


Somewhere Only We Know

by ShipsInTheKnight



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Adventure, F/F, Road Trip, Swan Queen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-12
Updated: 2015-08-12
Packaged: 2018-04-14 06:27:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4554234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShipsInTheKnight/pseuds/ShipsInTheKnight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is an alternate version of the 'Lily' episode (4x20). Most of the story is the same except the fact that Emma and Regina have been secretly harboring feelings for one another. They go on a road trip to find Male's daughter and save Robin and Rolland from Zelena. Who knows...maybe smut ensues? SwanQueen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Somewhere Only We Know

After saying their goodbyes, they made their way to Emma's bug; the brunette on the passenger's side and the blonde on the driver's. As much as Regina loathed the yellow death trap, she knew that she wouldn't be able to handle this trip without Emma. She wrote it off to the fact that Emma knows more about New York, having lived there for many years, but the truth was that she felt safer with the blonde around. Especially in a world without magic.

When Emma took her seat she immediately heard a ding from her phone, alerting her of an email.

"What is it," Regina questioned, "Something on Lily?"

"Yeah, one of my contacts found an address," Emma replied, slightly shocked. "But it's five years old," she added with a sigh. She continued reading, then came to a realization. Regina turned her head toward Emma to find the blonde staring forward with a thoughtful expression.

"Emma, what is it?"

"This is in Lowell, Massachusetts, which less than thirty minutes outside of Boston...which is where I lived five years ago," she explained, trying to make sense of it all. "Lily and I grew up in Minnesota, separate as kids, then ended up living less than an hour apart as adults?"

Regina raised both eyebrows in response while shaking her head slowly. "Like I said," Regina began, "Fate." She paused to look into the blonde's eyes. "You're connected. It's been pushing you together."

"It may have been pushing us together as kids," she admitted, "But last time I saw her, I'm the one who pushed her away." Emma turned her head toward the driver's side window and Regina could tell there was more to the story. She didn't want to push the blonde but she also desperately wanted to know if the girl was more than just a _friend_ to Emma. In the end, her curiosity got the best of her.

"What exactly happened between you two," inquired the brunette. Right after the words slipped from her mouth, she regretted them. _'Why would she ever tell you,'_ Regina thought to herself, _'You two aren't exactly friends.'_

She watched Emma's eyes as she had a mental debate with herself, which resulted in the blonde completely closing herself off. She silently put the keys in the ignition and started driving on to the road without another word.

* * *

 

When they arrived at the apartment complex, they instantly knew that the place was a terrible living environment. The wallpaper in the hallways were peeling off, the floors were disgusting, there were strange people lurking about and worst of all, Emma felt that this was all her fault. That because of the darkness intended for _her_ , she ruined someone else's life. To make matters worse, the person wasn't a stranger, it was someone who held a very special piece of her heart.

Emma was tempted to travel further into her tunnel of despair until she heard Regina's voice. She didn't catch the words that were spoken, but it was enough to distract her from her thoughts, for that she was thankful.

What she missed was Regina's attempt at lightening the mood saying, "Why did I go through all of the trouble creating Storybrooke when I could've cursed everyone to live here?"

Emma knocked on the door that matched the address and instantly heard a reply from a man behind her, emerging from a neighboring room. Both women turned to face the man, who appeared middle-aged and greasy.

"Sorry to disturb you," Emma started. "We're just looking for Lilith Page. Is she around?"

"No, she ain't around. Not for years," the man replied.

"Well, do you know where she moved?"

"Lady, she ain't moving nowhere. She's dead." Emma's face became sickly pale as the man's words registered in her brain. Regina's whole body ached to reach out and engulf the blonde in a hug, but she knows that it's not her place, so she settled for just being present for the blonde.

"What," Emma manages to croak out.

"Car wreck a few years back, pretty sure she was drunk."

The rest of the encounter was mostly a blur for Emma. As for Regina, she has to talk Emma down from killing the man.

* * *

 

Once again, they were in Emma’s ‘death trap’. This time, they were heading to find Robin. Regina hated the fact that Emma came all this way with her to find out her friend was dead, not to mention the fact she now has to chaperone as she Rescues Robin and Roland from Zelena. Regina took in a deep breath before attempting to speak to the blonde.

"Want to talk about what happened back there," Regina tried.

"Nope."

"Emma," Regina began, "You know you’re not responsible for what happened to her.”

“You sure,” Emma retorted, unconvinced. “Because if it wasn’t for me, she wouldn’t have been born with such a potential for darkness.”

“You don’t know that.” This was not going how Regina planned.

“That darkness was intended for me,” Emma said, turning her head towards Regina. “Or could have been,” she continued as Regina returned her gaze towards the road.

“Emma!”

Interrupted from her downward spiral of self-hatred, Emma’s eyes quickly darted to the road. All she saw was a dark grey smudge as she jerked the car to the side, not wanting to cause an accident.

Once they came to an abrupt stop, both women struggled to regain their composure. When Emma’s got her bearing strait, she attempted a glance to see what the smudge was.

There was a wolf, one that seemed so familiar to the blonde. In fact, this whole situation seemed like a bad case of déjà vu. She furrowed her brows. Before she had the chance to get Regina’s attention to the wolf, it quickly scampered away.

Emma opened her door and stepped out to see if there was any damage. Regina did the same.

“Are you okay,” Regina questioned as she made her way over to the blonde, placing her hand on the woman’s upper arm. The movement didn’t go unnoticed by the blonde, who tensed at initial contact then visibly relaxed.

“Yeah,” Emma began. “This has happened before.” At Regina’s confused expression the blonde continued, “The wolf in the road, then an accident...the first time I tried to leave Storybrooke.”

Regina continued her appraisal of the car and noticed it was at a slight angle, not due to the road’s curve. She instantly recognized that the car, indeed, had a flat time. She huffed in annoyance then turned back towards the blonde.

“Stop overthinking,” she said, despite the fact that she was doing the exact same thing. “It’s not fate. It’s just a flat.” Emma continued to stare at the ground in contemplation. “We need a new tire.”

After a moment, Regina realized that the blonde wasn’t going to say anything, so she decided to speak again.

Referencing towards a nearby sign, Regina continued on with her previous topic, “Unless fate wants you to go to the Coffee Mug Diner for help, chalk it up to ‘accidents will happen.’” Although neither spoke another word about fate, they both knew that the wolf was no coincidence.

* * *

 

They had both decided to stop and eat at the diner before retrieving a new tire, due to them skipping out on their previous mealtime. Once they were seated across each other in a booth near a window, a waitress approached their table.

“What can I get for you two to drink?” The waitress looked to be around her late twenties, had brunette hair and green eyes.

Regina was the first to speak, “Two cups of coffee and a pack of Advil.” Upon further inspection of the blonde she added, “Make that two packs.”

The brunette waitress made her way to the kitchen to grab two mugs and a full coffee pot. When she returned she began to pour the coffee as the two women started to read the menu. At the blonde’s frustrated expression the waitress asked, “Tough day?”

Emma looked up to meet her gaze and answered, “You don’t know the half of it.”

“I’ll leave the pot here then.” Emma’s eyesight was then drawn to a peculiar shape marked on the waitress’ wrist. Regina took note of the blonde’s gaze and followed it with furrowed brows, not understanding what she was staring at so intensely. The waitress walked away, leaving a gaping blonde in her wake.

“That’s her,” she said incredulously.

Not catching onto what the blonde was referencing, Regina questioned, “Who?”

Emma looked up to meet Regina’s eyes. “Lily.”

As if on cue, the waitress returned to their table with two sets of utensils and asked them for their order.

Regina glanced down at her menu one last time before ordering. “I will have the Caesar salad with grilled chicken.” The waitress scribbled on her notepad then turned her attention towards the blonde, who was obviously mesmerized by the woman’s nametag that read ‘Starla’. At least, it was obvious to Regina. As for the waitress, she was likely assuming the blonde was staring at her chest. Regina was quick to notice the awkwardness of the situation and spoke up. “Emma, dear,” she said, clearing her throat.

That seemed to do the trick as Emma’s eyes quickly snapped to Regina. “Right. I’ll have a BLT with extra bacon and chips,” she said, holding out her menu to the green-eyed brunette.

Once the waitress had gathered both menus and walked away, Regina rolled her eyes at the blonde and let out a small chuckled. “Nice job staring at her chest.”

Emma’s eyes widened. “I was _not_ staring at her chest,” she defended. “I was staring at her nametag.” Regina knew Emma was telling the truth, but she couldn’t help but jump at the opportunity to get the woman flustered.

“Sure you were, dear. As for your meal choice, you do know how terrible bacon is for your digestive system, right? I’d never let Henry put such a fattening food inside his system.”

Emma shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. She chuckled nervously and said, “About that…”

“You did _not_ let _our_ soningest such filth,” she growled warningly, only halfway joking.

“Sorry, okay? He was hungry! In fact, it wasn’t _me_ who fed it to him.” At the statement, Regina quirked an eyebrow. “It was Snow,” she finished tentatively.

“That woman,” Regina huffed in annoyance as she shook her head side to side. “As for you,” She pointed a finger toward the blonde. “You better start writing a list on how you’re going to repay me for all I have to put up with due to your family.”

If Emma was telling the truth, she’d say that Regina’s tone had more of a…dare she say flirtatious undertone. No, of course she wasn’t _flirting_ with her. She’s Regina freaking Mills! She wouldn’t flirt with her. Just, no. But Emma couldn’t hide that sparkle of hope that arose from the thought.

* * *

 

After their meal, Emma approached ‘Starla’ outside of the diner.

“Hey! Starla!” Almost instantly the waitress turned at the sound of her name being called.

“Is something wrong?”

Emma ignored the question. “Starla isn’t your real name, is it?” She watched as the brunette’s expression changed into a more serious one.

“Lily,” Emma answered for herself.

Lily looked her up and down, uncertain that she’s met the woman before and questioned, “How do you know that?”

Emma grabbed her right arm and pulled up her sleeve, exposing her star-shaped birthmark.

“This mark,” she began. “You showed it to me a long time ago outside a crappy Home Foods in Hopkins, Minnesota.”

Lily gave the blonde a long, hard stare as she began to recognize the woman as an old friend of hers. “Emma?”

“I thought you were dead. What the hell happened to you?”

Lily responded honestly, “I got into some trouble a couple of years back, met some bad people. I needed a fresh start, but…I’ve been careful. How did you find me?”

Emma raised her eyebrows, not knowing how to answer then offered, “Fate?”

“What?”

“I know this is going to sound crazy,” Emma winced at the thought of what she’s about to tell the woman, “But you know when were kids and you said you thought we were both connected?” Lily continued to stare at Emma in disbelief. “Like something was drawing us together?”

“Yeah, that’s something teenage girls say…especially when they’re in love,” she finishes, casting her gaze downward.

Emma takes in a sharp breath. “Listen, Lily. Maybe you were right, maybe there’s a reason why your life has been on a down spiral ever since we met. That your problems weren’t really _your_ fault, but…mine.”

There was a pause then Lily said, “You’re right. That sounds crazy.”

“Look, it’s complicated…but I can explain it if you come with me,” Emma pleaded. They gave each other a hard stare, neither wanting to be the first to break eye contact.

“How can I be sure you won’t pack up and run away, again,” she questioned, crossing her arms protectively across her chest.

Emma shook her head. “You’re just going to have to trust me.”

* * *

 

Minutes later that actually felt like hours, Regina arrived walking up to the two. “Tire’s being fixed,” she said to Emma, then gave the other woman a once over. “So it was her,” she mused.

“Yeah, Regina,” Emma confirmed. “She’s coming with us.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading my fanfic! I really appreciate your support and would love to hear any feedback you might have! I hope to update this fic soon! :)


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